PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 305 
Upon the walls are ten large photographs of typical Catalpa trees as they 
exist in nature, each in handsome frames of the same wood. 
A roll of paper and another of pulp, both made of Catalpa wood, are seen 
upon the wall, demonstrating the adaptability of Catalpa for making paper. 
At the rear seen through the car windows are telegraph poles, eight inches 
diameter and twenty-five feet long, which have served their purpose for thirty- 
two years. 
Also mining timbers and fence posts. One of these 31% inches in thickness 
was broken to test its strength. This was a most remarkable trial, for it was bent 
in four directions successively, under a pressure of 20,000 pounds, before breaking. 
The letter “B,” in compliment to the author, is steam bent and highly 
polished. 
The stairway and elegant house interior is stained and has a dull finish much 
admired. 
The Buffet made by the Indiana Furniture Company of Connersville is 
highly finished in golden oak stain. 
Two elegantly carved Roman chairs, one stained mahogany, the other 
natural. 
A block of wood a section of Catalpa tree, showing twenty annual growths 
is twenty-two inches diameter. 
To the rear of the stairway are a dozen Catalpa cross-ties or sleepers, as they 
are called in Europe. 
These are in perfect condition as regards soundness, notwithstanding the fact 
that they have withstood the hammering of innumerable trains on four of our 
most prominent railways, the Southern, Big Four, Illinois Central, and Louisville 
and Nashville, for a third of a century. 
Were nothing else shown in this exhibit save these old sleepers, and the 
section showing twenty years growth, the success of this exhibit would be com- 
plete. Yet so many other articles are included, that the world is amazed at so 
great value in an American forest tree almost totally unknown even in America. 
WHAT WAS PROVEN AT THE WORLD'S FAIR. 
(1st) That Catalpa speciosa will grow in twenty years to be twenty inches 
in thickness and forty feet high. 
(2nd) That in fifty years it reaches a height of one hundred feet and 
diameter of thirty inches, in forest. 
(3d) That for fence posts it has lasted 85 years. 
(4th) In fence rails it has withstood eighty years of sunshine and storm. 
(sth) That as railway cross-ties the wood has resisted wear and decay for 
thirty-two years. 
(6th) That it makes magnificent furniture. 
(7th) Interior house finish equal to any American wood. 
(8th) That every portion of a freight or passenger railway car may be 
miade of Catalpa. 
(9th) It may be carved into handsome chairs. 
(10th) It is suitable for picture frames, receiving any stains and taking a 
high polish. 
